All the bird walkthroughs are closed following DEFRA's avian flu precautions; this includes the Blackburn Pavilion, African Bird Safari and the aviary next to Gorilla Kingdom. Rainforest Lookout is still open. The Boky-boky kit (cub?) is on-show. There are a fair number of empty enclosures in the Reptile House.
The bird walk-throughs, especially the bird house at this time of year is bad news! Is entry to Gorilla Kingdom now from the 'exit' then? The reptile house seems to get worse every time I visit, a shadow of what it was in the 70s/80s! Good news on the narrow striped mongoose though.
I entered Gorilla Kingdom via the 'exit' but didn't go around to find any other entrances; some people did seem to be coming from the other direction, so there might have been a gate open somewhere. The big gate next to the Colobus was closed as usual though
If you go in the normal entrance to gorillas, just to the left of the door into the little aviary is a winding path that bypasses the bird bit (as some visitors are nervous of loose-flying birds). Buggies are better going in the "out" gate as the ground of the path is uneven bark chips. The rainforest was closed last week because of the avian flu, but they may have been able to get the curassows out and take them offshow.
The Curassows and the Red-crested Cardinal were both still in the rainforest yesterday, and making full use of the balcony space with so few visitors around.
Good. I expect they really enjoy that. I'm hoping the squirrel monkey walkthrough will have reopened this week. The plan was to move their indoor quarters within the walkthrough, which will make it easier for everyone.
Following it's success at Whipsnade this year, plans are underway to bring Zoorassic Park to London for 2017
Squirrel monkey indoors has been moved to where the small play area in the walkthrough was. Also I am pretty damn fuming about the Zoorassic plans, even though they were inevitable.
I get that robot dinos are not everyone's favourite thing, but 'fuming'? Really? They've clearly been very successful in boosting visitors to every zoo that's had them (I think that's pretty evident from the fact they keep re-appearing). They won't permanently take away potential animal space (unlike, say, the silly lion lodge things!) and they appear to pay for themselves. So just ignore them if you're not interested and get on with your day - just as we all already ignore play areas, statues, photo booths, drains, lampposts and other irrelevant items as we go around the zoo - and let those who enjoy them (such as, for example, many children - a big part of a zoo's audience) get on with enjoying them while they're there and putting funds in the zoo's coffers. I really don't get the vitriol here.
You ca There is a clear diagram and other information on my website, just google: Joe Mersey google sites and you will find it.
Perhaps an over-exaggeration; I have never been a fan of dinosaurs in zoos and never will be. Irritated would be better. I know it's inevitable, especially considering its popularity and the success at Whipsnade, but I'm less cross at it happening and more cross as to where they're intending on putting these? Even for a small amount of time theu will take up quite a bit of room. The money they'll get from it will definitely be needed so that's a plus. I can assure you I will be ignoring them, the space where they will end up going into is the main thing that's ringing alarm bells for me!
Presumably they'll put them on one of the lawns, which could ultimately lead to the realisation that these are spaces which can be utilised . So it may turn out to be a positive. In response to Maguari: I actually really like statues in zoos, whether they're of people or animals. I suspect I'm not the only one as well.
No you're not the only one; I like statues in zoos very much too. (My favourite is probably the musk-ox statue in Berlin Tierpark.) However, I agree with the main sentiments expressed by "Maguari" re the dinosaurs coming to London Zoo.
As may be obvious from my ongoing discussion of German and Austrian collections I have visited, and my feedback on Tierpark Berlin, Tierpark Hellabrunn and Alpenzoo Innsbruck, I am also very fond of statues and other such artwork in zoological collections..... if done well
No - so am I, in fact! But they were a useful example of things that zoo visitors don't have to worry about if they're not interested. (in a playfully mischievous mood, I almost included 'great apes' in the list with a winky face but thought I was being provocative enough!)
London Zoo had displays of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals in about 1994. The old parrot house incorporated an exhibition on animals that have become extinct more recently and was far more interesting, as it showed animals that could have been saved from extinction.
I can only hope you're right! If a new mammal species or two came to the zoo as a result, it might seem worthwhile, even to me. I suspect though that the money is needed to pay for Land of the Lions.
